Prize Recipient

Galileo Violini
Centro Internacional de Fisica,

Citation:

"For his leadership in the founding and directing of Centro Internacional de Fisica in Bogota, Columbia, an institution which furthers physics collaborations and experimental research in the Andean region."

Background:

A native of Italy, Violini received the Italian Libera Docenza in theoretical physics from the University of Rome in 1970, where he remained first as a research fellow and then as assistant professor and associate professor, In 1978 he began a collaboration with Colombia, spending some time as a professor of the University of Los Andes in Bogota before becoming an associate professor at the University of Calabria in 1987, where he presently chairs the Institute of Theoretical Physics.

In 1979, Violini first proposed the establishment of the Centro Internacional de Fisica (CIF), an institution focused primarily on the Andean, Central American and Caribbean region, of which he is presently deputy director. Officially founded in 1985, CIF has become well-known in Latin America, organizing more than 150 events with the participation of more than 7,000 scientists, and establishing some research laboratories. Its activities have also been important to the promotion of a stronger connection between the academic and business sectors.